CRASH! HOUSE DESTROYED BY TIMBER LORRY
A HOMEOWNER has described her lucky escape after a timber lorry crashed into her house, virtually destroying it.
Bryony Francis was making her lunch in the kitchen at the back of the house in Llangua, Monmouthshire, when the lorry crashed through the front end of the house and shed its load of tree trunks.
“I had just left my work station and had gone to make lunch when there was a massive bang, the doors slammed and the coats were knocked off their hooks,” she said.
“There was a rush of air and dust which hit my face and then everything went silent. I had no idea what had happened.”
Pictures from the scene yesterday showed the extent of the damage to the house, with walls almost entirely demolished and the contents of the house clearly visible.
Bryony said that after the crash she thought maybe the ceiling in the spare room had come down because they had stored too many items in the room.
“I just couldn’t work out what had happened,” said the 51-year-old.
“I tried to open the door from the kitchen into the front room but it wouldn’t open so I knew the ceiling had come down. I went up the stairs, opened the door and could see the front and side walls had gone.
“It looked like a bombsite and there were tree trunks, about 30 to 40, everywhere.”
Despite the damage, Bryony and her husband, John Clark, feel lucky to be alive.
She said: “It is still very unreal and a total shock. But we are very lucky: if my husband had been at home he probably would have been sitting in the front room and we could have been looking for a body today.
“This is a real accident black spot. The speed limit is 60mph but it is at a part of the road where is goes from being wide to very narrow in a very short space.
“We have no idea what is going to happen now. There is a structural engineer coming out to assess the damage and we are not allowed back in the house. Thankfully, we have got a great network of friends here and we have got somewhere to stay.”
Gwent Police said the crash had caused “substantial damage” and neighbours had to be evacuated from their homes as a precaution.
One man was taken to hospital with head and leg injuries, which are not believed to be life-threatening following the crash.
Structural engineers are carrying out an assessment of the building in the village near Abergavenny.